Cancelled Singles of the 90s & 00s

No it didn't. I think it must've been disqualified as it had 4 tracks.
Were four tracks still allowed if the run time is less than 20 mins? As the Trouser Enthusiasts mix is faded out early bringing it to 19:55 in length (annoyingly that has applied to the digital release too!!)

Maybe the single just tanked HARD (but not as bad as E’voke’s Missing You!!)
 
Were four tracks still allowed if the run time is less than 20 mins? As the Trouser Enthusiasts mix is faded out early bringing it to 19:55 in length (annoyingly that has applied to the digital release too!!)

Maybe the single just tanked HARD (but not as bad as E’voke’s Missing You!!)
I think they must've misunderstood the rules, as they'd only just come in in July '98 when it was released.

I believe the rule wasn't tweaked until Spring 2001, when they started allowing up to 40 minutes of remixes so long as they were all of the same song.

Actually, that would explain why E'Voke didn't chart too.
 
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I think they must've misunderstood the rules, as they'd only just come in in July '98 when it was released.

I believe the rule wasn't tweaked until Spring 2001, when they started allowing up to 40 minutes of remixes so long as they were all of the same song.

Actually, that would explain why E'Voke didn't chart too.
A friend of mine worked at the OCC and I asked a favour and had him look up Missing You. It charted at 1,639 having sold 10 copies in week of release and 50 copies overall. It might have been that the single was genuinely cancelled and just odd copies made their way to the shops. Or it might be that the 4 track CD was chart ineligible and sales were just of the cassette (I have a sneaky feeling CD1 was cancelled as it seems harder to find than CD2 was when I was looking on eBay).

I recall back in 2000 some of the dance labels were so desperate to maintain their 100% Top 40 strike rate that they deliberately issued tracks they thought would be misfires as 40 minute CD releases like Lange’s Follow Me (Positiva) or cancelled the planned CD/ 12” release and release that tracks on 12” only on newly created sub labels - Xtravaganza with Black Connection’s Keep Doin It and Afterburn’s North Pole: Frattboy on the XtraDisco and XtraBlue labels (which were never used for anything else!!)
 
A friend of mine worked at the OCC and I asked a favour and had him look up Missing You. It charted at 1,639 having sold 10 copies in week of release and 50 copies overall. It might have been that the single was genuinely cancelled and just odd copies made their way to the shops. Or it might be that the 4 track CD was chart ineligible and sales were just of the cassette (I have a sneaky feeling CD1 was cancelled as it seems harder to find than CD2 was when I was looking on eBay).

I recall back in 2000 some of the dance labels were so desperate to maintain their 100% Top 40 strike rate that they deliberately issued tracks they thought would be misfires as 40 minute CD releases like Lange’s Follow Me (Positiva) or cancelled the planned CD/ 12” release and release that tracks on 12” only on newly created sub labels - Xtravaganza with Black Connection’s Keep Doin It and Afterburn’s North Pole: Frattboy on the XtraDisco and XtraBlue labels (which were never used for anything else!!)
Crikey. For it to have done that badly makes me think they must've disqualified the CD! And so few copies apparently sold but there are still a few copies floating about online 25 years later.
 
Did Raspberry Swirl come out? Two people have told me now it was cancelled. It did in fact chart at #135 on the compressed chart (cat no 7567841732) - and it's not listed as an import at least.
Raspberry Swirl was released briefly in stores but was recalled very quickly afterwards, so it is likely did sell some copies during that very short window of time.
 
I think they must've misunderstood the rules, as they'd only just come in in July '98 when it was released.

I believe the rule wasn't tweaked until Spring 2001, when they started allowing up to 40 minutes of remixes so long as they were all of the same song.

Actually, that would explain why E'Voke didn't chart too.
Was this rule also in place before 1998? My understanding is that before '98 singles were allowed to have up to 4 songs and the only exception to this was if the single had remixes, and all of the remixes had to be mixes of the same song, with up to 40 minutes allowed in total.

Unless I'm mistaken the rules were changed in 1998 to limit singles to 3 tracks regardless of whether the tracks were remixes or not.
 
There was a rule change at the end of 1996 which limited formats to three and band special packaging, aside from digipacks and wallets, and banned free gifts, aside from a sheet of four stickers or a four panel poster. I always thought that was when the three-track rule came in, but I have plenty of 4-track CD singles from 1997 that say otherwise. I think it wasn't until 2000 that they started to allow a fourth-track if it was a CDROM video of the a-side.
 
Was this rule also in place before 1998? My understanding is that before '98 singles were allowed to have up to 4 songs and the only exception to this was if the single had remixes, and all of the remixes had to be mixes of the same song, with up to 40 minutes allowed in total.

Unless I'm mistaken the rules were changed in 1998 to limit singles to 3 tracks regardless of whether the tracks were remixes or not.
Yes that's correct
 
There was a rule change at the end of 1996 which limited formats to three and band special packaging, aside from digipacks and wallets, and banned free gifts, aside from a sheet of four stickers or a four panel poster. I always thought that was when the three-track rule came in, but I have plenty of 4-track CD singles from 1997 that say otherwise. I think it wasn't until 2000 that they started to allow a fourth-track if it was a CDROM video of the a-side.
The CD-Rom didn't count as a track
 

All of those examples were allowed because the CDROM was also an audio track on the single.

Ronan Keating fell afoul of this because the CD1 of "Life is a Rollercoaster" had an interview video with no audio equivalent. I loosely say fell afoul, he still made #1, just with CD2 and cassette sales.
 
All of those examples were allowed because the CDROM was also an audio track on the single.

Ronan Keating fell afoul of this because the CD1 of "Life is a Rollercoaster" had an interview video with no audio equivalent. I loosely say fell afoul, he still made #1, just with CD2 and cassette sales.

I know, but this was always the case. I was just showing that you were allowed 3 audio tracks+CD Rom in 1998 (after July rule change).
 
There was a rule change at the end of 1996 which limited formats to three and band special packaging, aside from digipacks and wallets, and banned free gifts, aside from a sheet of four stickers or a four panel poster. I always thought that was when the three-track rule came in, but I have plenty of 4-track CD singles from 1997 that say otherwise. I think it wasn't until 2000 that they started to allow a fourth-track if it was a CDROM video of the a-side.
Was the limit on the number of tracks increased at any point after 2000?

CD2 of Janet Jackson's All Nite (Don't Stop)/I Want You double A-side single had 5 tracks (the 2 A-side singles, a remix of each and 1 b-side) with 2 enhanced videos for each A-side: https://www.discogs.com/release/455182-Janet-All-Nite-Dont-Stop-I-Want-You

Seems like it would break a lot of rules, but maybe it was different for double A-side singles?
 

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